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OpSail (Opportunity to Sail)

“Gloria” the Colombian ship 

 

We’re going to skip around in time a little bit.

Fast Forward > Rewind > Play

A month or so ago I got an email from Steve Earley over at Log of Spartina with a rare invitation to go sailing. OpSail 2012 was coming to Norfolk in June, would I be interested in seeing it from Spartina? He was making plans to sail aboard one of the tall ships, the Picton Castle, from Martha’s Vineyard for work. Might need someone to tend the tiller while he gets shots of them parading out of Norfolk.

 

Steve Earley in “Spartina”

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Sassafras River ~ Video

Sassafras River sailing.

 

* Update 6/22/12 – Someone on the WoodenBoat forum noticed something I didn’t. Keep an eye on the foreground during the opening credits. It comes right out of the surf. In the parts I edited out I can tell I almost stepped on it. – BL

Still trying to get the hang of sailing with two hands and working the camera with a third. Can’t seem to do either particularly well at once.

This covers two days. The first full day, starting with beaching on the sand spit, ending with rafting up in Turner’s Creek.

The next day, though it spanned maybe seven hours of sailing, kept all three hands full beating upwind, sitting up on the side rail most of the time. Only got brave enough to grab a couple of short clips. Must start attaching the camera to things, or bringing more hands.

 

 

 

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Sailing the Sassafras

Easing in at end of day. 

 

There’s video from this trip still to come.  I’ll try to get that up in the next day or so. Still trying to catch up from 10 days of travel.

Kevin Brennan spent a long time researching a good launch point for this trip, and really nailed it with Turner’s Creek. The ramp is wide and well maintained, in a sheltered cove, with good parking and necessary facilities at hand. It’s also secluded and quiet, with very little traffic other than watermen and a few locals.

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Chestertown, Maryland

Betsy on the hard

 

Tucking tail for Chestertown was the right thing on several counts. Best part is it turned one adventure into two. It’s a cool little town, and I would have missed it if I hadn’t got run off the river.

 

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Plan B

Working hard at the office.

 

 

Morning was glorious. Wild Turkeys crowing instead of roosters. Snapped a few photos of the sunrise. It was so striking to see the lotus leaves floating in the sky, buoyed by red clouds.

Red sky at morning . . .

 

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Rule #1

Dusk on Turner’s Creek

 

Call your wife.

 

(The posts made already were limited to what photos and minimal text I could manage by phone from the water. Here, and over the next few days, I’ll fill in the back story and post a lot more images, some video, too.)

The sun was down when I reached Molly’s Tractor Supply to pick up the ramp permit ($60 for a year if you’re out of state.) Getting dark fast. Nothing around but miles and miles of corn and wheat. Silos in silhouette against the horizon. A piece of farm equipment rumbled up, sat idling while the guy got out, went in for a drink, then throttled up and rumbled off again.

 

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